May’s issue of Conde Nast Traveler lists Philly's usual suspects Tinto and Rae on its “Hot List” of the world’s best new restaurants.
Also in there, among such notables as Merkato 55 in NYC and Spruce in San Francisco, is Bolete in Bethlehem — yes, Bethlehem, Pa. — a six-month-old husband-and-wife-run New American restaurant in a 200-year-old building from Allentown native Lee Chizmar and his wife, Erin Shea, both of whom were last in Boston and craved small-town life.
Shea says a friend who's a New York publicist got Bolete on the editors' radar, and someone came in for a review.
As you'd imagine, the phones have been ringing since the issue was released a few days ago and now it's "super-booked" on the weekends. Tables are available during the week. Bolete can accommodate 40 to 50 in the main dining room, plus 20 in its tavern, which serves a small menu.
Conde Nast rhapsodizes over roasted cauliflower soup poured over a panko-dusted fried quail egg, caviar, sautéed leeks, and pancetta; lamb chops atop rich spaetzle and carrot puree; and day-boat scallops paired with risotto and hen-of-the-woods mushrooms. Entrees are $25 to $36 and starters are $9 to $18.